For example in both the FIFA World Cup and Rugby World Cup the teams are split into groups (also known as pools) where they play each team in their group once under a round-robin system.
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The winner of the Coupe de France was guaranteed a place in the group stage of the UEFA Europa League with the club's appearance being dependent on whether it qualifies for the 2013–14 UEFA Champions League.
After defeating Levadia Tallinn, Hapoel Tel Aviv and Braga, Pandurii entered the Group stage, being drawn into Group E.
During the tournament, Kasperczak was fired and replaced by Ali Selmi, after Tunisia lost the chance to pass the group stage, losing to England (0–2) and Colombia (0–1).
On 16 September 2010, Lucas scored his sixth goal for Liverpool shortly after replacing Ryan Babel in Liverpool's first Europa League group stage match against Steaua Bucureşti.
Fillo began his 2011–12 season by making appearances in the Champions League qualifying stages, through which Plzeň progressed to the group stage.
All group stage matches were played in Ostrava's ČEZ Aréna, and all playoff matches were played in Prague's Prague's Sparta Arena.
The loss was Australia's first loss in a World Cup match since 23 May 1999, when Pakistan defeated Australia at Headingley in the group stage of the 1999 World Cup.
Group A of the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup will be the group stage of the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup for six teams.
Mooy played at the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup and played in two group stage games before Australia were eliminated, scoring in his second game against Brazil.
During the away leg of the qualifying match for the 2005/06 Champions League group stage against Malmö FF Adriano scored the deciding goal in Thun's 1:0 win.
He took charge of a UEFA Cup first round match between Celta de Vigo and Odense Boldklub two months later, but it was not until 4 November 2008 that he refereed his first Champions League group stage match, when he officiated a match between Barcelona and Basel.
In 2005, Basso moved on to the Tippeligaen side Viking, where he enjoyed a good spell, the highlight of which was his impressive performance in the shock 1–0 home victory over Ligue 1 giants Monaco in the 2005–06 UEFA Cup group stage.
After being defeated 2-0, Vietnam coach Henrique Calisto used the phrase 'anti-football' referring to the tactic used against his team by surprise winner Philippines at the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup group stage in Vietnam.
During that time he was the first official for 189 matches (current record) in the Bulgarian A Professional Football Group, the fixture between Switzerland and the Netherlands in the UEFA Euro 1996 group stages and many UEFA Champions League group stage matches as well.
In November, he scored his first ever goal in a European competition in the Group Stage home fixture against FC Nordsjælland.
The stadium was also the neutral ground used by CONMEBOL in the 1981 Copa Libertadores group stage replay match between Flamengo and Atlético Mineiro, in which Flamengo was declared the winner by CONMEBOL, after five Atlético Mineiro players were sent off by referee José Roberto Wright.
He has been selected in the Italian team for UEFA Euro 2012, becoming the starting left-back in the third match at the group stage as Italy moved from 3–5–2 to 4–4–2.
On August 9, 2011, Calambé finally scored his first official goal for Mauritius in their 2 – 0 win in the group stage of the 2011 Indian Ocean Island Games football tournament over Comoros to help secure Club M's place in the knockout stage.
On August 21, 2013 they made history again by winning 1-0 the first match of the CCL Group stage against the Canadian club Montreal Impact.
In the unfinished Croatian championship 1944, in the group stage (City of Zemun championship), Hajduk took the last place in the group, behind Dunav, Građanski and Liet, and ended the competition.
His debut came on 30 November 1977 in a 1978 FIFA World Cup qualifier in Belgrade against Yugoslavia, and he was also picked for the final stages in Argentina, playing all three matches in an eventual group stage exit (one win, one loss and one draw).
Bebek is considered the best Croatian referee and is the only Croatian referee who supervised two UEFA Champions League group stage matches (Lazio v. Werder Bremen during the 2007–08 season and Bordeaux v. CFR Cluj in the 2008–09 season).
However, following a 0–1 group stage loss against Iran's Sepahan F.C. for the campaign's AFC Champions League on 15 April 2010, he was sacked.
In the following campaign's UEFA Champions League, Joaquín appeared in all six group stage games for Betis, including the 1–0 triumph over Chelsea and a 0–0 draw against Liverpool, at Anfield (third-place finish, UEFA Cup "demotion").
He was a member of Costa Rica U23 team who competed at 2004 Summer Olympics, playing the full 90 minutes in all matches as Costa Rica lost to Argentina on the quarterfinals and scoring in the group stage match against Portugal.
In the 2007 edition held in his country, he helped the national team finish first in the group stage, and scored in the quarterfinals against Uruguay, but in a 1–4 defeat.
By 1966, Tschenscher was one of the top referees in Europe, a fact reflected in his appointment to the first leg of the 1965–66 European Cup semi-final between Partizan and Manchester United, and then a group stage match between Brazil and Bulgaria at the 1966 FIFA World Cup.
He was picked for the squad at that year's Copa América and made his debut precisely in the continental tournament, against Ecuador in the group stage.
In the first match of the Champions League group stage, he set up the first goal for Rafael Bastos, who would score another, in a 2–0 win against Portuguese side Braga.
He plays against Argentina, Spain and Honduras in the group-stage of the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2007 and against England in the Round of 16.
Mellor also scored a vital goal and set up another during Liverpool's match with Olympiacos at Anfield during the group stage of the 2004–05 UEFA Champions League, which Liverpool went on to win.
It was another five years before he officiated a Champions League group stage match – the Group B match between Sporting CP and Spartak Moscow on 5 December 2006 – but it was to be his only experience in the group stage.
Subsequently, he was selected for the squads at three FIFA World Cups, helping the nation win the tournament in the 1990 edition in Italy: after only six minutes against Colombia in the group stage (1–1), he played the entire semifinal against England, also scoring in his penalty shootout attempt (1–1 after 120 minutes).
Benquerenca is also known for his touchline dismissal of Auxerre defender Jean-Pascal Mignot, during an AFC Ajax v AJ Auxerre UEFA Champions League group stage match in October 2010.
2009–10 was a big season for Norwood, as he made the full step up to the reserve team and also received his first call-up to the first-team for their Champions League group stage match away to Wolfsburg.
Olympiacos opened the second round of the group stage with a draw 0–0 to Real Madrid at the Karaiskakis Stadium and kept alive the record of being undefeated by Real Madrid in Athens in four matches, while the Reds moved a step closer to qualifying for the last 16 after coming from behind to defeat Lazio 2–1 in Stadio Olimpico.
The club succeeded in winning against Kharkiv and VK Primorac Kotor (8-11) but it was eventually eliminated from the second group stage.
Ludogorets became the first Bulgarian team to begin their group stage participation in European tournaments with 3 consecutive wins, when in the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League group stage they recorded consecutive wins against PSV Eindhoven (2-0), Dinamo Zagreb (3-0) and Chornomorets Odesa (1-0), without conceding a goal in any of the games.
They were unbeaten in the group stage and won the group with five wins in six games, including both home and away victories over PSV Eindhoven and Dinamo Zagreb.
Raí gained the first of his 51 caps for Brazil in 1987, whilst at São Paulo, being selected to that year's Copa América in Argentina, playing twice – including in the 0–4 group stage loss against Chile – in an eventual group stage exit.
After some unstable performance from Ivan Karadzhov and Zdravko Chavdarov, M'Bolhi was expected to be the first choice goalkeeper for the rest of the first half of the season and the group stage of UEFA Europa League and he indeed established himself as the main goalkeeper for the "redmen".
On 4 November, he scored the final goal in a 1–3 win against defending league champions Juventus while on 8 November, he scored a brace in a Europa League match against FK Partizan (1–3) that advanced Inter into the competition's Round of 16 with two Group Stage matches to spare.
On 23 November 2010, Turnbull made another appearance in the Champions League Matchday 5 group stage against Slovakian side MŠK Žilina as Chelsea won 2–1 when they came from a goal down to beat them.
In 1991 he refereed two matches at the FIFA World Youth Championship - a group stage match between Brazil and the Ivory Coast which ended 2-1 and a further quarter-final in which Portugal defeated Mexico 2-1.
On 27 June 2013, Ryu was injured and substituted during South Korea's final game of the group stage against Nigeria, forcing him to miss out their Round of 16 match against Colombia, and subsequently, their Quarter-final loss against Iraq.
After the retirement of fellow countryman Horacio Elizondo he became Argentine's top referee and was selected for the 2007 Copa América where he took charge of three games (Brazil vs Mexico, Brazil vs Ecuador; both group stage and the quarterfinal between Mexico and Paraguay).
In the unfinished Croatian championship 1944, in the group stage (City of Zemun championship), Liet took the third place in the group, behind Dunav and Građanski and in front of Hajduk, and ended the competition.
As reigning Twenty20 Cup champions, they were invited to the International 20:20 Club Championship, where they lost two matches and bowed out at the group stage.
He played in all five of the matches and earned a penalty for his team (which was converted by Andrei Voronkov) in the 2:0 group stage win against Iceland U21.
It also competed in the CAF Champions League 2006 beating SS Excelsior of Réunion and Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa, but failed to qualify for the group stage after losing to Ghanaians Asante Kotoko.
He was the player who injured Hungarian team captain Ferenc Puskás during the two teams' first game in the tournament in the group stage.
In the tournament, he scored his only two goals so far against the Shizuoka national team in the second group stage match and the hosts Japan in the final group stage match.